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IBM accuses Twitter of patent infringement, wants to strike a deal
Twitter's previously said it wanted to steer clear of patent litigation and focus on our feeds, but IBM may other ideas. In a tweak to its pre-IPO S-1 filing with the US SEC, Twitter let slip that it's recently received a letter from IBM accusing it of infringing three of the company's patents concerning: "efficient retrieval of uniform resource allocators," "presenting advertising in an interactive service," and "programmatic discovery of common contacts." There's no need for lawyering up just yet, as IBM would rather "negotiate a business resolution" -- or get paid off, in other words -- before lodging any legal complaint. Discussions could easily move from the boardroom to the courtroom, however, as Twitter also mentioned in the filing it believes it has "meritorious defenses to IBM's allegations." Oh well, here we go again.
Apple R&D expenditures up 32% in 2013
As part of the Apple earnings folderol earlier this week, the company today filed a Form 10-K with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. There's some good news in there for those who want the company to continue to innovate with new and improved products: Apple spent 32 percent more on research and development in 2013 -- US$4.5 billion -- than it did in 2012. The company revealed that R&D expenses, when compared to net sales, actually remained fairly constant. Since net sales have ballooned, so have R&D costs. Much of the growth in R&D expenses was attributed to additional personnel. Apple's filing states that, "The Company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace and are directly related to timely development of new and enhanced products that are central to the Company's core business strategy. As such, the Company expects to make further investments in R&D to remain competitive." Also in the 10-K were these tidbits: The company had 80,300 full-time equivalent employees as of September 28, with more than half (42,800) being employed in the retail operations. At the end of the company's 2013 fouth quarter, the company occupied about 19.1 million square feet of building space, most of that in the US and about 63 percent of it leased. Apple owns 1,428 acres of land, which we calculated to be roughly 9.5 percent of the size of Manhattan Island.
SEC charging Nasdaq $10 million in civil suit settlement over Facebook's IPO issues
When Facebook became a public company in the summer of 2012, its initial public offering (IPO) didn't go quite as well as the company expected. It went poorly enough that the US Securities and Exchange Commission took action against the exchange which handled Facebook's IPO: Nasdaq. A civil suit filed against the exchange, alleging computer software errors that resulted in a lackluster IPO, was settled today -- the exchange will pay $10 million to settle the suit. The settlement, of course, doesn't mean that Nasdaq is confirming or denying the alleged issues its computer system incurred last year; said issues allegedly cost investors in the ballpark of $500 million. Probably best to un-friend Nasdaq now before things get awkward. [Image credit: bfishadow]
HP adds another 2,000 to the chopping block, cutting 29,000 jobs by 2014
Looks like May's Hewlett-Packard layoff numbers were about 2,000 short of reality, as the American hardware company adjusted its previous 27,000 estimate to 29,000 in a recent SEC 10-K filing spotted by ZDNet. Those employees represent approximately eight percent of HP's entire workforce, and the restructuring saves the company $3 to $3.5 billion per year -- money it badly needs following last quarter's losses. HP says that 3,800 employees were affected as of July 31, 2012 -- just over 13 percent of the restructuring total. It's unclear how many more will be affected by year's end, if any.
AT&T plans to shut down entire 2G network by 2017
AT&T has only just begun the transition away from 2G services with its spectrum refarming in New York City, but it now has a target end date to mark on the calendar: January 1st, 2017. Courtesy of an SEC filing, we know that the carrier hopes that both its GSM voice and EDGE data networks will have gone to the great cell tower in the sky before we're popping the champagne corks about four and a half years from now. The Big Blue Ball expects the transition to be a smooth one, as only 12 percent of its regular subscribers are using 2G-only phones today; if it ever gets bumpy, the company promises to "proactively" steer the holdouts towards 3G and 4G. Don't get too misty-eyed. While the transition will mark the end to what's arguably one of the most definitive chapters in US cellular history, that far-flung date will likely come well after most of us have moved on -- much like the AMPS shutdown, it could be less of a bang and more of a whimper.
SEC investigating movie studios' dealings with China
Reuters is reporting that regulators have begun a probe of American movie studios and their dealings with Chinese officials. The Security and Exchange Commission has sent letters to at least five companies, including 20th Century Fox, Disney and DreamWorks Animation requesting information about "potential[ly] inappropriate payments" made to members of the Chinese government. The market in the pseudo-Communist nation is seen as one with huge potential for US-made films, but the state-owned China Film Group has placed strict limits on foreign cinema. However, in February, the group agreed to loosen restrictions and exempt up to 14 IMAX or 3D films a year (along with their 2D counterparts) from the 20 movie cap on international media. Around the same time, DreamWorks announced it would be building a production studio in Shanghai with participation from several large Chinese media companies. Even Disney struck a deal that will see the next Iron Man title co-produced by China's DMG Entertainment. The sudden shift in tone must have raised some eyebrows with watchdogs, and the SEC has responded by hitting up the studios for info over the last few months. Obviously, we'll be keeping an eye on this to see how it develops.
Nokia submits yearly SEC report, details €1.4b loss and Windows Phone risks
Nokia submitted its annual report (Form 20-F) to the SEC today, and -- as required of all publicly traded companies -- the information provided a candid overview of its financial health and market risks. Based on its quarterly reports, we've already known it was a rather bleak year for the Finnish outfit, which saw a €1.4b annual loss compared to €1.3b in profit just one year ago. Further, its net sales similarly took it on the chin, which amounted to €38.6b in 2011 versus €42.4b in the previous year. In terms of units sold, Nokia pushed out 339.8m feature phones during the year -- a three percent decline from the 349.2m units sold during 2010. The company attributed the drop to its aggressively priced competitors, as well as its lack of a dual-SIM handset for the first half of the year. Nokia's smartphone segment took an even harder hit, which fell to 77.3m units sold -- a 25 percent drop from the 103.6m devices shipped just one year ago. Once again, the company cites its aggressive competition as the primary factor for the decline, along with a waning interest in the Symbian platform.In its discussion of potential threats to the company's bottom-line, Nokia provides a rather forthright assessment that accurately pegs its future success in the smartphone marketplace upon the acceptance of Windows Phone among developers and consumers. Likewise, its projections to sell 150 million Symbian units is failing to materialize -- big shocker there -- and Nokia now expects demand for its homegrown platform to continue deteriorating. Nonetheless, it remains stalwart in the commitment to support Symbian through 2016 -- though surprisingly, no comment on how this in itself could be a disaster to the company's bottom-line. Should Nokia's smartphone effort fail, that leaves it with the Series 40 feature phone segment, which it characterizes as a low-margin business that may see its demand erode as smartphones reach even lower price points. Nobody ever said that the mobile industry was a bed of roses, but if you'd like to view the world through Nokia's eyes, you're certain to find its commentary (pages 13 - 47 of the source document) an interesting read.
Sprint reveals it spent $15.5 billion to fuel its iPhone hunger
Sprint's SEC filings have revealed that the carrier has committed to purchasing $15.5 billion worth of iPhones as part of the long-promised $20 billion gamble. If each handset costs around $630 at trade, then we're talking about the network holding nearly 24 million units. Given that the company most recently ate a loss of $1.3 billion, most of which was caused by carrier subsidies for the 4S, there's a genuine fear that the company won't be able to make enough back on each customer to offset the initial outlay. Given the Baller-style purchasing decisions of Dan Hesse of late, we'll be watching how this unfolds with great interest and our fingers very firmly crossed.
Apple senior executives get lucrative stock grant
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Apple's senior executive team received lucrative stock grants worth US$60 million dollars at current market prices. A Securities and Exchange commission document filed by Apple on Friday details this financial reward. Each executive will receive restricted stock shares that are meant to entice the executives to stay with Apple for the next five years. The grant requires that the executive remain at Apple to claim half of the stocks which will vest in 2013. The second half will vest in 2016. Executives receiving the 150,000 shares include CFO Peter Oppenheimer, general counsel Bruce Sewell, iOS Software VP Scott Forstall, Worldwide Product Marketing VP Phil Schiller, Hardware Engineering VP Bob Mansfied and Operations VP Jeffrey Williams. Senior VP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue received 100,000 restricted shares.
Google outbid itself by 33 percent in Motorola Mobility acquisition, SEC filing reveals
Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility is already starting to lose that new car smell, but a fresh batch of financial details has now emerged, providing deeper insight into how the deal actually went down. According to an SEC filing that Motorola Mobility released yesterday, Google made an initial offer of $30 per share on August 1st, but soon raised that bid to $37 per share on August 9th, after Moto and its advisers asked for $43.50. On that same day, Google again raised its offer to $40 per share, even though Motorola wasn't accepting bids from other firms, for fear that a public auction would jeopardize its sale. This 33 percent increase ultimately added some $3 billion to the pot, bringing the final price tag to $12.5 billion. A Mountain View spokeswoman declined to comment on the negotiations, though its aggressive bidding suggests that the search giant desperately wanted the deal to go through. The documents also reveal that patent-related issues were at the forefront of discussions from the very beginning, when Google's Senior Vice President Andy Rubin met with Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha to talk about their mutual concerns, way back in July. According to the Wall Street Journal, these talks eventually convinced Jha that his company would be better off under Google's stewardship, amid fears that Moto could get swallowed by the stormy seas of patent litigation -- anxieties that the exec made all too apparent just four days before the merger was announced. You can dig through the full SEC filing at the source link below.
Apple Inc. files SEC form 10-K with sales figures
Like every other publicly traded company, Apple Inc. is required to file a form 10-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission every three months. These typically contain some interesting bits of information that aren't necessarily revealed in press releases. Apple's most recent 10-K chronicles its unit sales and per-unit revenue for its just completed 2010 fiscal year. Apple sold almost 13.7 million Macs in 2010, a 31 percent increase compared to 2009. Interestingly, portables (not including the iPad) accounted for almost two-thirds of that total. Nonetheless, desktops still grew faster than portables with a 45 percent increase to almost 4.7 million units. Unfortunately, Apple doesn't break out sales of specific models, so we're not sure which machines account for the growth. However, it's a safe bet that the huge and gorgeous 27-inch iMac, and perhaps the latest generation mini, accounted for most of the increase. Overall revenue per unit for all Macs (portable and desktop) dropped off a bit from $1,333 last year to $1,279, which points to success for both the mini and the plastic MacBooks. The U.S. market has always been the strongest for Apple, but the increasing popularity of the iPhone and the opening of new retail stores overseas seems to be helping Mac sales, too. Overseas Mac growth outpaced the U.S. in 2010 with Asia-Pacific in particular jumping 62 percent to 1.5 million units while Europe was up 36 percent to almost 3.9 million units. All of these Mac sales, however, are dwarfed by the iPhone and the iPad. Global Sales of the iPhone nearly doubled last year to 40 million units while nearly 7.5 million people picked up the new tablet in its first six months on the market. You can check out all of the details of Apple's 10-K right here. [Via Mac Daily News]
Dell hit by Intel's antitrust aftershocks, prepares for $100 million settlement
Hounded by international antitrust allegations, Intel fired an initial $1.25 billion salvo's worth of settlement last year, but now Chipzilla's biggest distributor of silicon is feeling the heat as well. Dell publicly announced it has set aside a $100 million reserve fund to head off investigations at the pass with a potential settlement of its own. While the company doesn't admit wrongdoing, it recognizes "alleged violations of negligence-based fraud provisions," also known as accepting Intel's controversial chip rebates without reporting them to the government. Dell's actually been under SEC investigation since 2005 for accounting-related transgressions and the company now hopes to tie up all loose ends at once -- here's hoping we see cheaper Core i7-infused laptops whether or not execs pull it off.
EA, Take-Two take buyout talks behind closed doors
The ongoing drama of who's eating who between mega publishers Electronic Arts and Take-Two has finally been taken behind the curtain, where it should have been all along. After coming to some measure of understanding, the companies have jointly signed a confidentiality agreement, agreeing not to blab about what may or may not happen as a result of ongoing talks until, you know, something actually happens. According to Reuters, EA has agreed as part of a regulatory filing with the SEC to not "make any further announcements regarding the status of any discussions or negotiations with Take-Two" until the pair come to some sort of mutual accord. We couldn't be happier, knowing that while the drama will likely continue to unfold for quite some time, at least we won't have to read (or write!) about it.
